War of Shadows
by Dussack
Summary: A novelization of FE1/11 where Akaneia is more based on real medieval Europe and the war is fought by full armies with hundreds or thousands of soldiers.
1. Night of Betrayal

**This is my attempt at a novelization of FE1/11 based on. I originally thought of this while playing total war, when I wondered what Fire Emblem would look like with battles on a Total War Scale. It developed from there and I eventually added a few other details to flesh out the world of FE. There will be some very minor OCs mainly for the body count and to prevent faceless minions. In the event that OCs share a name with characters from other FE games (such as Marcus in this chapter), it is purely coincidental. While I haven't really done much writing (and I think it shows), I've been wanting to do this for years but never bothered until now.  
**

**Note that the Akaneia portrayed here is based more on real medieval Europe and so is not in medieval stasis. Because of this, and the fact that I thought of doing this before Awakening was released, Awakening does not necessarily follow this.**

* * *

Since its founding over a century ago, the kingdom of Altea had enjoyed peace and prosperity, and before the events of the past few years, it showed no signs of stopping. For most people life continued peacefully although for a few, the absence of most of the military and the news of war that was continually brought by travelling merchants, was a cause for concern. Yet most people doubted that what was happening in the wider world would ever reach Altea. Anyone who dared to stand against them would surely be defeated in no time, and life would continue as it always had.

As a mere vassal of the holy kingdom of Akaneia, Altea was hardly the largest or most powerful nation on the continent, yet its knights were one of the largest and most prestigious military forces in the known world. For many reasons, Altea was the envy of many other nations, yet its real treasure was in its legacy, having been founded by the great hero Anri.

From the years 493 to 498, the entire continent of Akaneia had been devastated, when under the last earth dragon Medeus, the manakete dragons of the Doluna Empire and their human slaves attempted to take over the entire continent, and to enslave and exterminate all of humanity. At that time, the holy kingdom was the only major power on the continent, hence why the kingdom and the continent shared the name: Akaneia. The kingdom of Akaneia, along with all the other people of the continent fought back, yet Doluna swept away all resistance and it was not long before the Akaneian capital Pales fell and the royal family of Akaneia was almost wiped out. Many more died in battle, from disease and famine, and under the tyranny of Doluna. Fortunately, mankind was never entirely defeated, and even after the fall of Pales the people continued to rise up and fight against Doluna in any way they could. While it started off as what seemed like a lost cause, this changed when princess Artemis, the last surviving member of Akaneia's royal family presented Akaneia's national treasure: the Fire Emblem, to Duke Cartas. Wielding the Fire Emblem, Duke Cartas rallied the people of Akaneia, and led them on a campaign to destroy the Doluna Empire. Despite some initial success, progress was slow and the war soon became a stalemate that dragged on for almost a year. This changed however, when the slave Iote of the Doluna occupied Macedon region, led his fellow slaves in revolt, by learning to tame the wyverns that were wild in the forests of Macedon. With the forces of Doluna fighting on two fronts, the forces of Duke Cartas continued to retake territory that had been lost until after years of fighting, they laid siege to Doluna Keep, knowing that victory was finally within reach. It was at this moment however, that Medeus himself joined the battle, and turned the tide single handedly, decimating his enemies and almost killing Duke Cartas himself. It was when all hope had been lost, that Anri, a young man from the remote town of Altea, appeared wielding the divine blade Falchion, and with it fought and slew Medeus, bringing what became know as the "War of Liberation" to an end. It was after the war that Anri returned to his home town and founded the kingdom that stood to this day.

Everyone in Altea had heard this story and the proof was there for everyone to see. The divine blade Falchion, which had for a long time been kept in the Cathedral of Altea, was now seen as a holy relic and attracted pilgrims from far and wide. According to legend, Falchion was forged many centuries before the war, by the divine dragon Naga from one of her own fangs. While this was the traditional story, many were sceptical about the sword's alleged divine origin, yet no one could deny that the material it was made from was something completely unknown. However, at this time Falchion was no longer in its chapel and for the first time since the defeat of Medeus, had been taken to war once more.

Five years ago, rumours had spread that Medeus had returned and was gathering an army, to rebuild the Doluna empire. While this was almost universally dismissed as pure nonsense, the reports of spies and military patrols soon made it clear that Medeus had indeed been resurrected, through the means of a dark ritual that was undoubtedly the work of Gharnef, a dark sorcerer who had gone rogue long ago, and stolen a forbidden artefact -known only to a handful of people - from the magical city of Khadein. Hoping to avoid another war and believing his kingdom to be unconquerable, the king of Akaneia instead of taking action, chose to believe that peace was still possible and allowed Doluna to grow unchecked. A year later King Osmond of Macedon died mysteriously and when his son Michalis ascended to the throne, his first act was to sever all ties with Akaneia and instead, declare an alliance with Doluna. Grust was the next kingdom to fall as for unknown reasons, King Ludwik declared that Grust would join the Doluna alliance. For another two years, an uneasy peace remained, yet almost everyone with a basic knowledge of the outside world, saw that war was inevitable. Finally at the turn of the century, a huge army of manaketes and many more fallen humans from Doluna invaded the holy kingdom. In the meantime Grustian forces started engaging the Altean knights in a number of skirmishes near the Altean border.

Now in the year 602, the Akaneian capital Pales had been under siege for three months. King Cornelius of Altea wielding Falchion was leading an army along with his closest ally, King Jiol of Gra, against the Grustian forces at Fort Mennedy. From there they would break through into Akaneia and attempt to break the siege of Pales, or so they had hoped. Even if everything went according to plan, the king knew that the war would not end until Medeus was dead once again and as the heir of Anri, it was up to him to do it. Only then could he return to his kingdom, his wife Queen Liza who ruled in his absence, his daughter Princess Elice, and his son and heir Prince Marth.

* * *

Marcus hurried along the dark and seemingly endless corridors of Castle Altea, wishing he had some idea of what was going on. He had been nearing the end of another dull night shift, guarding some deserted corner of the castle while trying not to fall asleep, when he received new orders from Princess Elice. What she or anyone else was doing up at this hour was a mystery to Marcus, until he overheard some other passing guards saying something about news arriving from Fort Mennedy, yet even that left endless possibilities open and he now regretted not asking them when he had the chance. Whatever the case, he just hoped that he would find out soon, and that it was good news. In another few months, he would be sent out to the front where he might get some action instead of endless hours of patrols and guarding the castle from non-existent intruders, although he did admit that there were far worse places to be posted. Unfortunately, there were very few Altean soldiers here and the garrison mostly consisted of soldiers from Gra, and Marcus wondered whether some of them were even soldiers. While he was not one to question the king's decisions, to him the soldiers from Gra didn't exactly look trustworthy, indeed some of them looked more like hired thugs than professional soldiers. Not that it was something for him to worry about.

He eventually reached the outside of Prince Marth's room where he knocked on the door as loudly as he could several times. Soon he heard the prince asking him to enter and he stepped in.

"Your royal highness. Sorry to wake you but the princess wishes to see you," He continued, "She wants you to meet her in the throne room as soon as possible".

"I see." said Marth, although he didn't look like he expected to be summoned at this time. "Has something happened?" he quickly asked.

"I do not know for sure but I think it is to with our forces at Fort Mennedy," replied Marcus. He quickly added "Whatever it is, it must be urgent if you're being summoned at this time".

Marth nodded "Then I'll be there soon. Thank you".

"Sir." Marcus acknowledged as he left.

Now that that was done Marcus started on his way back to the barracks as his shift was finally over by now. He had already heard that some of the other guards knew more than him, so maybe some of the now off duty guards might be able to explain to him what was going on, and he would also finally be able to get some sleep. He didn't get very far before he found the last thing he expected within the castle: An Altean soldier lay dead at his feet, covered in blood which poured from what looked like a stab wound to the back of the neck, and also with some damage to his armour which looked like the result of a clumsy bludgeoning. Initially horrified at the sight, Marcus stepped back, trying to think what could have happened and what he should do, before realising that whoever had done this was probably after the prince, who he had a duty to protect.

* * *

After getting dressed, Marth started on his way to the throne room, hoping that the news from the front line was good news but at the same time suspecting that something could have gone wrong. On the way out, he made sure to take his rapier which he should have returned to the armoury earlier, as well as his dagger which he carried at all times, not knowing that he would be needing them very soon. As he left his room, he failed to notice the two soldiers who were ahead of him, hiding in the darkness and trying to stay as silent as possible. Their orders were to take the prince alive and it was proving much easier than they had expected. The time of day made it easy to hide, and now the prince was alone, heading straight towards them. Once he came past, they could easily take him by surprise and capture him, hopefully getting a reward for doing so, yet little did they know that it wasn't just the prince they had to deal with.

What happened next was the last thing Marth was expecting. As he got closer to the throne room, a soldier jumped out of the shadows and swung at him with the back of an axe. He appeared so quickly that Marth hardly had any time top react and just barely managed to step out of the way, and before either of them could do anything else, the attacker fell over with the end of a spear through his back, revealing the soldier who had informed him to head to the throne room.

"Look out" he shouted, pointing up as Marth quickly stepped aside and turned around, to see that another attacker had just missed him. Realising that he didn't have time to withdraw his spear, Marcus quickly drew his sword and rammed into his opponent with his shield, sending him off balance. Before his opponent had time to recover, Marcus used his shield to move his arm aside and then ran him through with his sword. Unfortunately, after this he let his guard down and another enemy, who had just appeared before he or Marth could notice, swung his axe directly into his neck, breaking through the weak armour and almost decapitating him.

Marth had been trained in combat for a number of years now but he had never witnessed anything like the carnage that was before him. At this point he had instinctively drawn his rapier, knowing that for the first time ever, he had a proper fight on his hands. His opponent seeing Marth's rapier, kept his distance knowing, that the superior reach of Marth's weapon put him at a disadvantage, but eventually seeing an opening swung his axe down at Marth's head. Marth, seeing this raised his free hand to push his opponents arm away, succeeding at first but then realising he had no chance of resisting a well-built grown man, so instead he stepped back while letting go of his enemy, forcing the axe to come down and missing. Not throwing away this opportunity, he then thrust his rapier forward directly into his enemy's chest.

Marth breathed heavily as he withdrew his sword and let his now dead enemy fall to the ground, trying to process what had just happened. He had trained in various forms of combat from an early age, often with some of the best knights in the country, but until now he had never been in an actual fight. Now he had come close to being captured and most likely killed, witnessed a real fight to the death and killed a man himself. While he knew that he had no choice, all he could think about was who that man was, whether he had people depending on him and what brought him here to his death. While he knew that it was a life or death situation, he had always hoped the day something like that happened would never come. However, when Marth turned his head and saw the dead Altean soldier once again, he was reminded of his duty as prince. That soldier had died doing his duty to defend him and he could not let thoughts of guilt get in the way of his own duty. With that, he got up and continued on his way to the throne room, trying not to focus on what had just happened and as ready as he could be for anyone else who got in his way.

It was not long until he reached the corridor leading to the throne room, which was thankfully much better lit than the rest of the castle. He soon knew however, that he was not the only one there as he heard a shout from across the room:

"Over there. Get the prince."

Two more axe wielding thugs started to close in on Marth, to which Marth responded by raising his rapier and getting into a fighting stance to which one of the thugs simply started laughing, failing to notice the blood covering the rapier. The other, quickly swung his axe repeatedly to force Marth back, but Marth knew how to recognise an obvious, clumsy feint and did not move, instead easily parrying each attack.

"Who are you?" he demanded, not expecting the answer he got. His enemy responded:

"We're soldiers of Gra," he answered while stepping back from the fight "and seeing as we now control this kingdom, it would be better for you to surrender". To Marth, this made no sense. What would allied soldiers, who were here to defend the kingdom claim to be in control. Was this a revolt by the garrison or worse?

"What? Why would I surrender to an ally?" asked Marth, feeling himself getting increasingly angry.

"So you still want to do this the hard way then," said one of the alleged Gra soldiers as both of them advanced. Marth, seeing that he was not getting any answers from these two, thrust his rapier at the one he had been fighting, throwing a perfectly executed feint that caused the soldier to leave himself open, after which March ran him through. Before he could withdraw his sword however, the other soldier tackled him from the side, threw him down onto the ground and used his foot to keep him down. As he attempted, to bring his axe down though, he had again proven himself less than observant. While Marth's sword was out of reach, he had failed to notice the dagger that Marth had been carrying on his belt and by the time he realised that Marth was still armed, the dagger had been driven through his leg. As he shouted in pain, Marth threw him off and after getting up, slashed his side and finally stabbed him in the temple.

After retrieving his sword, Marth headed towards the door to the throne room, once again trying to keep his mind off what he had just done. While he was shaken from the brutality of the fight, he was determined to find out what was going on especially after what the soldier had said. It simply did not make sense. Just as he reached the door, it was opened from the other side, revealing a Gra soldier who unlike the others was undoubtedly a professional soldier, who wore some light armour and wielded a spear and shield.

"Looks like the reward is ours," he shouted to another soldier behind him, and came forward blocking the doorway and taking a defensive stance, sometimes thrusting his spear at Marth. Now knowing that the men he fought earlier were indeed working for Gra, Marth attempted to attack the soldier, successfully dodging his spear but hitting his shield each time. The soldier, who had the defensive advantage stayed where he was, expected Marth to tire eventually and become weak, but Marth had been holding back, attempting to lure his opponent into a false sense of security. Remaining stationary while attacking was a mistake Marth made in his early days of training, which he had learned to stop the hard way but now he was back to making the same mistake, meaning that any movement would be unexpected by his opponent, who would not otherwise come forward. Eventually, just as the soldier was about to thrust his spear again, Marth stepped to the left, enabling him to thrust his sword right into the soldiers neck.

As Marth stepped into the throne room, he discovered that the other soldier, had been busy fighting an Altean soldier at the back of the room and had just killed him. Expecting his comrade to easily deal with Marth, he was slightly aghast. Marth noticed him muttering something to himself before turning and running towards the throne, which he stood on top of, hoping to provoke Marth.

"Get off my father's throne" Marth shouted as he charged towards the soldier.

"It's not his now." said the soldier as he jumped down and got into a defensive stance, ready to repel Marth. "Can't you see that fighting is now pointless. Your army is defeated and your whole kingdom has been seized."

"I will not surrender under my own roof," said Marth as he brought his rapier forward and drew his dagger with his left hand. The soldier repeatedly thrust at him with his spear, managing to achieve a few scratches, but failing to deliver a serious hit. Marth, using his two blades, repeatedly moved the soldiers spear away from him but could not get past the shield. Getting impatient, the soldier attempted to ram Marth with his shield, thinking that it would give him the opening he needed to deliver a killing blow, unaware that he had left himself open to do so. Marth, seeing an opportunity, brought his dagger up through the soldiers jaw, and trying hard not be overcome by the sheer brutality of what he was doing, then delivered a killing blow to the back of the neck.

Now that the enemy soldiers were dead, Marth now felt exhausted, both physically and mentally after killing five people. His weapons were now covered in blood and there were still two dead soldiers in the room to remind him of it. What was even worse was that he did not know why the soldiers had turned on him and he dreaded to find out what had happened.

"Marth," he heard a familiar voice say. As he was in thought, his sister Princess Elice approached from the side door, stopping briefly when she noticed the three dead men in the room. "Are you okay?".

Marth snapped back to reality, "Elice, what is going on?".

"I see we don't have much time," she continued, "Our army at Fort Mennedy was defeated. Gra betrayed us and struck the army in the rear."

At this point, Marth was speechless, having just hear the news that he had been dreading after what the last soldier had said.

"Is Father..." was all he had managed to say at this point.

"I do not know what happened to Father. All the scouts said was that most of the army was crushed, fighting on two sides. The few who escaped are scattered and are probably being hunted down."

Marth was struggling to take all this in, but trying to regain his composure he asked:

"What do we do now?" adding "What is the situation in Altea?".

"As you have clearly seen, the garrison have started pillaging from the inside. If I had known that, I would have sent someone to warn you," replied Elice, "As we speak, the combined armies of Gra and Grust are approaching from the North and Altea is defenceless and in complete chaos. For the sake of the kingdom, we have no choice but to escape".

Marth, now realising just how dire the situation was asked "How can we escape the castle?".

Elice responded "Go and meet Sir Jagen at the west gate. It should be lightly..."

Before she could finish, Marth interrupted "Aren't you coming?"

Elice hesitated slightly before saying "Mother and I were separated on the way here. I have to go and find her before I go, but I will join you once you are out," with emphasis on the last part.

Marth quickly said "Then I'll do the same," but Elice objected,

"No. Go and meet Sir Jagen and gather any other knights you can find. Once you clear a way out, I will catch up with you as soon as I can."

The way she said it made Marth doubtful of whether she was really being truthful, but all he could do was hope. With that Elice, hugged him as if she would not meet him again, which was what Marth somehow suspected but kept assuring himself that it was not the case. After that he turned and left, trying not to look back and trying to think only of what he had to do now.

"Goodbye Marth," whispered Elice as he left, "May you live long".

* * *

**Feedback is much appreciated. I'll try to update soon, but seeing as it took ages to write and edit this one chapter, I can't promise anything.  
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	2. Escape from Castle Altea

**Thanks for the reviews and sorry it took longer than I expected to update. After uploading the first chapter, I unfortunately caught a cold that wouldn't go away. I missed a lot of time and this led to a backlog of university assignments. I've finally caught up but now that I'm back at university, updates won't be very frequent. I'll try to do what I can anyway.**

* * *

The path to the western gate from the throne room was hardly direct and for most people, it would be difficult to find the way there without getting lost. Marth however, having lived in the castle all his life, knew his way around even the most obscure and unused passages. This was probably not true for the dead Gra soldiers he had just passed, who had most likely been ambushed after getting lost. While the Alteans had won that particular struggle, evidence of further fighting in just about every room was everywhere: dead soldiers – mostly Altean, discarded weapons, and fresh bloodstains filled the castle. Fortunately, unlike earlier on the way to the throne room, Marth had not run into any Gra soldiers, although it would have been a relief to know that he wasn't the only one who was still alive. Worse still was how he couldn't stop worrying about whether his mother and Elice would escape safely and whether they would meet up with him if they did. It was very difficult to keep his mind off that, as well as all the bloodshed that surrounded him, yet he kept going until he neared the inner gate leading to the western courtyard. Yet as he arrived, he had no time to catch his breath as he heard the distinct metallic clicking of armour getting closer. Once again, he drew his rapier and dagger, preparing but not feeling ready for another attack. It was not long before a knight appeared round the corner and recognising the heraldry on his shield, Marth was relieved to discover that not only was he Altean, but he was Abel, one of the knights with whom Marth had sometimes trained.

Lifting the hounskull visor of his bascinet, Abel said "Sir. Princess Elice bade us protect you, if we ever found you."

Before Marth could answer, another knight who Marth recognised as Frey appeared with his rounded visor already raised saying: "We were told to hold back the enemy as long as we could, but now that you're here, we need to ensure you escape."

"Thanks. Elice told me to meet Jagen at the gate, but I don't know what the plan is after that," Marth said before asking "Are there any soldiers out there?"

"We saw three of them on this side," said Frey "They somehow didn't notice us sneaking past them, even in this armour but we don't know how many there are outside. "

"Well we can't wait here while Jagen gets overrun. We'll have to fight our way out," said Abel. "We can take out those three easily enough."

Frey turned to Marth saying "Abel and I will go ahead and clear a path for you."

"No," Marth objected even though he wanted to avoid killing anyone else. "I will not stand by while others risk their lives for me."

"Sir it is..." said Frey before he was interrupted.

"I have already seen at least two soldiers die trying to protect me. I don't want to have anyone else die because of me," Marth continued.

"If we die, then it is only our duty," Frey answered.

"It is my duty as prince to fight alongside those who would fight for me." Marth argued back.

It was Abel who broke the argument saying to Frey: "He does have a point. We don't know how many there are. If all of us fight, we might have a better chance. Besides we're wasting time here. The sooner we get out the better."

Frey remained silent for a few seconds before saying "Very well."

"Seeing as Abel and I are armoured, let us engage the enemy first. Help us out however you can," he then said to Marth.

At this point, Abel had lowered his visor and drawn his sword and seeing this, Frey did the same. As the three of them headed stepped out into the courtyard, they saw two of the Gra soldiers casually leaning against the wall and talking to each other, one of them repeatedly spitting on the ground while the third who had been there earlier was nowhere in sight. Eventually, noticing Marth and the knights approaching, one of them cursed loudly and shouted to his comrades outside for help. As both soldiers prepared to fight, Abel charged with his spear forward at the soldier on the left of the gate while Frey did the same to the soldier on the right. The third soldier, who had been standing just outside the gate, rushed to join the fight when he realised who it was trying to escape.

"It's the prince," he shouted to the soldiers outside. "Hurry up so we can get rich or stay there and die."

He then charged towards Marth as his comrades struggled against Abel and Frey. Frey, with his spear giving him superior reach, had very little difficulty against the very lightly armoured, axe wielding soldier he was against. The soldier repeatedly tried and failed to get past Frey's spear, and it was not long before Frey managed to thrust his spear into his enemy, who then dropped his axe before dropping dead. As this was going on, Abel was locked in what at first, seemed to be a stalemate with a soldier who was slightly better equipped than the one Frey was fighting. Using their spears, both kept the other at a distance and used their shields to deflect any thrusts. Yet it was soon clear that Abel was far more skilled as he threw a number of feints that the Gra soldier failed to recognise, which soon led to him leaving himself exposed and being impaled. As Abel and Frey defeated their enemies, both turned to help Marth, who seemed to be doing well on his own against the third soldier. Before they could intervene, help arrived for the Gra soldier as an arrow flew in from outside the gate, which would have mortally wounded Marth, had he not stepped aside just in time. Another arrow soon followed and it became clear that the archers, who were at the bottom of a flight of stairs outside the gate, did not know what they were shooting when the arrow landed on the Gra soldiers shield. Before they could fire more arrows, Marth thrust his rapier forward, wounding the Gra soldier underneath his right shoulder and before he could react, Frey delivered a killing blow into his side.

"Let us deal with the archers," Abel said to Marth as the three of them lined up next to the wall, before any more arrows could hit them. Soon Abel and Frey charged out the gate, with their shields forward, at the archers below. Seeing them, the two archers fired repeatedly, desperately trying to take the knights down before they were skewered. They did not succeed as their poor quality arrows did nothing against the knights' armour and shields and seeing this, especially as the knights kept coming closer, they stopped firing and instead tried to flee. Both archers ran along the outside wall on their respective sides of the gate, hoping to find a better place to fire from or to flee from the battle. This proved to be a mistake as the knights each followed one of the archers in order to deal with them before could fire another shot This however, meant that the knights had overlooked the Gra captain waiting further away on the bridge. As they forced the archers to flee, Marth started on his way down the stairs, and seeing his opportunity, the captain charged towards him, hoping to kill him quickly and escape with his head, like the other soldiers, underestimating his fighting skill. Still on the stairs, Marth got into a defensive stance, hoping to use the extra height to his advantage. The charging captain attempted to run him through with his spear but Marth dodged easily and then counter-attacked, forcing the captain onto the defensive. Quickly swiping and thrusting, he did not give the captain a chance to prevent him from closing the distance, and eventually almost landed a fatal hit which the captain managed to turn aside with his shield. Now too close to use his rapier effectively, and unable to get it past the shield, Marth kicked his opponent in the groin before using the dagger in his left hand to try to slash him across the face. When his missed, hitting the nose guard, he instead plunged his dagger deep into the captain's eye, which resulted in him shouting in pain for a brief second before he was no longer able to, dropping dead with Marth's dagger still embedded in his brain. When this was done, and the thrill of the fight wore off, Marth felt almost sick. While he was gradually losing any sympathy he had for these soldiers, he would have done anything to avoid all the death he had seen this night, especially those he had killed himself, and the worst of all was the one he had just killed. The image of blood spurting out as he sunk his dagger through his eye and into his brain, was one he would never forget, and all his training could never have prepared him for this.

As Marth stood still, trying to shake off what had just happened, Abel and Frey returned from chasing the archers, who had both run into dead ends where they had met their demise. One of them had been skewered by Abel while the other, seeing no alternative, jumped into the moat. As both knights saw the body of the captain and the resulting pool of blood, they silently cursed themselves for leaving the prince undefended but were at the same time thankful that Marth had won the fight. It was little wonder that they failed to notice the captain anyway, due to the limited vision in their helmets. However, it was clear that Marth did not react well to having to kill, even to save his own life. Frey was not surprised, knowing that he would be no different if he had been forced to fight for his life at the age of 14, yet neither he nor Abel knew what to say.

"We need to keep moving," Frey said eventually, knowing that they could not afford to waste any time. As he started on his way, Abel noticing Marth's dagger still in the dead soldier, picked it up and carefully handed it to Marth, who slowly took it without saying a word, only nodding slightly.

"Where's Sir Jagen?" Marth eventually asked as he and Abel followed Frey across the bridge. As soon as he asked, they all heard the sound of a horse getting closer, hopefully answering Marth's question. Abel and Frey prepared their spears, in case it wasn't who they hoped it was coming towards them, but it was not long before they saw the horse in its distinct caparison, followed by the rider in his easily recognisable ornate armour, which showed his many years of service to the crown of Altea, but not to the same extent as the anachronistic great helm which would not have looked out of place in the time of Anri. Jagen stopped just before he reached the bridge and waited for Marth and the other two knights as he lifted off his helm.

"Sir we must make haste. The enemy is closing in," he said, already turning his horse around.

"Shouldn't we wait for Elice?" objected Marth, who was wondering how she could possibly get out now.

"She ordered me to get you to safety and that's what's important now." said Jagen. "I don't know what she's doing but if she escapes, she knows where to find us."

"I see," Marth said after some hesitation, before asking: "What is the plan now?"

"First we need to get away from the castle. I'll explain the rest later," said Jagen, before moving off. Slowly so that Marth, Abel and Frey could keep up on foot. They made their way down the road, soon having to step over about five dead Gra soldiers and although Jagen didn't say a word, the others had no doubt that it was them who had delayed Jagen, and met their end because of it. They continued for a few more minutes until Jagen stopped and raised his hand, gesturing the others to stop.

"What is it?" asked Abel, but he soon realised what the others were listening to. Once again, they heard the sound of a horse coming closer.

* * *

Cain had completely lost track of how long he had been travelling. He was lucky to escape the massacre at Fort Mennedy, although he had to pay dearly to do so. Anyone who saw him in the state he was in would have thought he was on the verge of death, being covered in his own blood and with pieces of his armour broken, although with no time to lose, he refused to stop and get his wounds treated. In addition, he had lost his lance and shield, now only armed with an arming sword which he was not exactly in a state to use. He was also riding a somewhat common horse which he had to trade with a passing stranger for his prized Aurelian destrier, which had become too exhausted to continue the journey. The stranger of course, needed no convincing to accept such a one sided deal and although Cain was sad to see his horse go, probably to be sold for more than the stranger made in a year, he would do anything to ensure he fulfilled his duty, knowing that if he could not carry out the king's last orders, he should have died with his fellow knights. He was not far from the castle, which he hoped had not yet fallen but knew that it was very unlikely. Yet reason for hope soon appeared, when he saw what was undoubtedly an Altean mounted knight on the road in the distance. As he got closer, he saw that there were three other people following the knight on foot and they had now stopped, as if they were waiting for him. As he came even closer he realised who they were: his superior Sir Jagen, his comrades Abel and Frey, and most importantly Prince Marth.

"Sir," Cain shouted as the others recognised him.

"Cain, what are you doing here?" asked Marth. "I thought you were with the main army."

"Sir, I have come to deliver a message from the king" said Cain, trying and failing to hide the pain he was in.

"How did you even get so far in that state?" asked Jagen, having seen few knights who could have survived such injuries for long. He then added "We need to treat those wounds as soon as we can."

Isn't there anything we can do now?" asked Marth, clearly unsettled at the sight of Cain's wounds and anxious the hear his father's message.

"We are still too close to the castle. We have to get off the road and follow the trail. We'll be far enough when we reach the nearby village but we can't stay for long. We need to get into the woods," said Jagen. He the asked: "Cain can you manage that?"

"Of course. I did not ride all the way from Fort Mennedy to get captured here. If we have to keep going, I understand," said Cain.

"Then let's go," said Jagen before moving off further down the road with the other four following, soon leaving the road and travelling onwards along the tracks through the fields until the castle was no longer visible.

* * *

While Marth and the knights were escaping the castle, princess Elice had taken command of the few knights and whoever else was left in the castle. While they had succeeded in holding back the enemy for a while, it was clear that time was running out and they would be overrun any minute. Now in the throne room, the situation was quiet relative to what was going on throughout the castle and the whole kingdom. The main entrance to the throne room had now been barricaded, and while it would most likely delay the enemy for only a few minutes, Elice knew that the longer they were kept back, the more time Marth had to escape. By now, all of the remaining soldiers were gone, either killed or having left to save themselves, although not one of them even thought of doing so until Elice ordered them to leave.

"Your Royal Highness, there is nothing more we can do. We must leave now," a familiar voice shouted from the side of the room. Malledus, the king's advisor, had just entered, having returned from giving some soldiers their last orders. He had been getting impatient for a while now, not understanding what Elice hoped to achieve by staying in the castle for so long, but he was not prepared for what she had to say.

"I am not going anywhere. How can I abandon the people of Altea after so many many have died to keep the kingdom safe?" she said, in a more serious tone than ever. Before Malledus could answer, she added, "Besides, if nothing else, I can can buy more time for everyone to escape".

"What is this nonsense?" asked Malledus. "Come on while we still have a chance."

"No Malledus," said Elice. She continued, "With Father and Mother unaccounted for, I have to remain with the people of Altea. If anything happens to me, it is of no consequence. If anything has happened to Father, then only Marth can wield Falchion and defeat Medeus. The fate of the world depends on him, whether he manages to escape the kingdom".

"Then is there anything I can do?" asked Malledus, in his mind arguing whether or not he could agree with Elice's decision to stay, but doubting that he could convince her otherwise.

"You know where to find Marth." said Elice. "If he is to succeed in what he must do, then he will need your guidance. Now go before it's too late."

" I will... do whatever I can," said Malledus before reluctantly turning to leave. Now Elice stood alone in the throne room, ready for whatever fate awaited her.


End file.
